Can ghosts practice devotional service?
So can ghosts practice devotional service? Ghosts usually can get the benefits of others practicing devotional service. Whether they themselves can practice devotional service that will vary. So for example in the Puranas there are stories that in the Bhagwat Mahatma there is a story that a particular man's grandfather or some ancestor that person had been caught in a ghostly body.
And it is told that he is caught in a particular tree and he is bound to that tree. And then this descendant as in the grandson he was told if you do Bhagwat Katha then by doing this Bhagwat Katha what will happen is he will get benefit. He will of course get benefit for doing the Bhagwat Katha.
Bhagwat Katha means for 7 days or whatever hear the Bhagwat from a Kathakal everyday for a few hours. So he sits there and they sat in the courtyard so that the tree was also visible. Someone was going to the tree also.
And the Bhagwat Mahatma says that after 7 days what happened was a big branch of that tree just fell down. And there was no gust of wind over there to cause that particular branch alone to fall down. But that's what happened and then this particular descendant, this grandson he heard a voice saying that thank you, you have liberated me now.
So you have freed me from this ghostly body. So there are many stories like this where people were trapped in ghostly bodies when others do some Bhakti in a situation where they are also there or for their benefit then they can be benefited by that. So beyond this, this is with respect to others doing service they will always be benefited.
Now with respect to themselves performing Bhakti usually because the ghost body is so tamasic so the inclination to perform Bhakti is not there so much. Because tamasic body makes one act in tamasic ways. But in some cases, in exceptional cases it is possible.
Just as we see normally a deer is just interested in finding some grass and doing other things like that. But when Bharat Maharaj became a deer because of attachment to the deer, you know for that deer, Krishna was deer. So it was not that delicious grass was deer to that deer.
So what the deer did was, deer stayed near a hermitage and heard Krishna Katha from the sages. Although near that hermitage not so much green grass was available. In the forest green grass was available, the deer did not go for the green grass.
The deer stayed in the vicinity of the hermitage and heard Krishna Katha. So just as Bhakti. So Bhakti in terms of consciously choosing to turn our heart towards Krishna from the things of this world.
That conscious exercise of our free will that is possible. The initial starting of that is done only in the human body. We need a human body for that.
But once Bhakti has been started, some spiritual consciousness may stay on even in animal body. And even in the animal body one will act in ways which are not just driven by one's animal nature. But one will act according to the spiritual impression that one has had in previous life.
That's how Jyotibharat acted like this. That's why the deer who was Bharat Maharaj earlier, he acted spiritually. So there is one of his candidates, Janananda Maharaj.
He has written a whole book called Animals in Krishna Consciousness. And this book talks about how in different parts of the world devotees have encountered certain dogs, certain cats, certain animals, even some cows. He has behaved in extraordinary ways.
In Malaysia, there is a dog every evening with every Sandhya Aarti. Just come and stand outside the temple. Not come inside, just stand outside and look at the deities.
And some visitors will come and try to shoo it away. It will just move away without barking and just sit in another place. And gradually he just came every day, day after day, day after day.
Gradually devotees understood this is a devotee dog. He is sitting there, he is not coming inside also. But he is not going away.
And every day he would be there for Aarti, after that he would go away. How that happens? Krishna explains, purvabhyasena tena eva yata eva nirvishopisa. That purvabhyasena, that purvabhyasena, the past practice one is helplessly attracted.
So, just as even if a person does not have a human body, an animal body also, one cannot start bhakti, but bhakti can be continued. Similarly, some ghosts may also be able to continue bhakti. In their ghostly forms also, in their disembodied form also.
If, say for example, somebody practices bhakti, but then becomes frustrated with life and because of excessive frustration commits suicide. So, what happens? By the principle of bhakti, whatever bhakti you have practiced, that is you have never lost. So, that attraction to Krishna will still remain.
But because one has ended one's body, so one will get a ghost body. So, in that ghost body, one will be attracted towards Krishna bhakti. So, one will try to… So, there was one devotee, some devotees were once going for yatra.
All this is anecdotal, but some devotees were once going for yatra and there was one mataji, young, 25 years old. Suddenly she started feeling feverish and started talking in a… in not a feminine words, almost like a masculine words. So, what happened? She was a serious devotee, they wanted to go to Mayapur.
They were planning to go for yatra to Mayapur. And the devotees started chanting Hare Krishna, started praying for her. And suddenly, she was a devotee mataji.
She spoke in almost like a masculine way. She says, I want to go to Mayapur and no matter what you do, I am not going to leave. So, don't waste your time.
Once I go to Mayapur, once I reach Mayapur, I will myself leave. And then the devotees kept chanting Hare Krishna and they went by train. So, till she came to Mayapur, she was almost like haunted.
But as soon at the end of Mayapur, immediately she changed. She started behaving like a normal person. So, what had happened was a devotee ghost had possessed her and a devotee ghost had used her to reach Mayapur.
Now, these are very rare and don't be afraid of being haunted. But the point which I am making here is that bhakti cannot be stopped by anything. Even by a soul going into a ghost body, bhakti cannot be stopped.
Bhakti can be continued, but bhakti cannot be started. For starting, one needs a specific human intelligence or a specific intelligence which is available in the human body.